Tap the arrow to expand the Touch Bar and reveal the standard icon set.
There should also be a left-pointing arrow beside them. In this case, look for a few standard icons (such as screen brightness and volume) at the right end of your Touch Bar.
If you’re using one of the latest MacBook models equipped with a Touch Bar, you might not see the F5 key or the correct icon to decrease the keyboard backlight due to the buttons contextually shifting.
In the same window, you also have the option to set Mac keyboard lights to turn off after a certain period of inactivity (from 5 secs to 5 min). Select “Adjust keyboard brightness in low light”.When you aren’t using the keyboard, you might want to ask your MacBook to turn off the keyboard backlight by doing the following: To turn backlighting off, touch and hold the brightness decrease button.Īdjust keyboard backlighting in low light conditions automatically.Expand the Control Strip, then look for the increase and decrease brightness buttons.Click Keyboard Brightness and drag the slider.Go to Control Center (available in macOS Big Sur and higher) that is located in the upper right corner in the menu bar.In this situation, or if you simply prefer using your mouse, OS X also allows you to change the brightness. You may also not find any brightness buttons at all. So, you may find the brightness decrease and increase keys in a slightly different place. You’ll see an indicator on your screen showing how the brightness is decreasing.Īpple modified the MacBook’s keyboard when it unveiled the 2020 model with an M1 processor. To turn backlighting off, press the decrease brightness key. There are two buttons: the increase brightness button (a small circle with dashes around it) and the decrease button (a small circle with dots around it) Look for the Brightness buttons on your keyboard (in most cases, it’s in the top row with the F keys). Adjust keyboard backlighting or turn it off manuallyĭepending on the model of your Mac, choose one of the following: If your Mac laptop has a backlit keyboard, you can change the backlighting's intensity or turn it off when operating your Mac in low light. So let’s dive into what you specifically need to do in these situations. Finally, if you notice that you have a light keyboard during the day - it’s just a pure waste of energy. Similarly, when you know all the keys by heart and have no problem typing blindly, even at night, you might not want to light up keyboard and drain your Mac’s battery life. When you turn off the lights in a room to watch a movie, for example, you don’t want your Mac keyboard light to distract you from what’s happening on the screen. Why turn Mac keyboard lights off?Įven though most people find a lot of value in having keyboard backlights turned on at night, this feature is not without downsides. So here are a few easy ways to turn your laptop keyboard light off. There are, however, instances when you don’t want to turn on keyboard backlighting.